Notes on Mr. Cross's Acarus. 59 



rostrum, a mouth, and two eyes ; thirdly, a stomach and anus; 

 fourthly, two lateral pulmonary lobes ; * fifthly, an ovary, con- 

 taining eggs in the female specimens ; sixthly, eight limbs, 

 each composed of eight joints, including the tarsus ; seventh- 

 ly, a skin, bristled with numerous long hairs. 



As we have seen, it would be hardly possible for the orga- 

 nization of this animal to have been more complex ; since in 

 addition to what we have just stated, there are distinct sexes, 

 in which intercourse and fecundation are necessary to the re- 

 production of individuals of the species, and in which, conse- 

 quently, we must admit the existence of reproductive organs; 

 and finally, that the females form and deposit eggs, whence 

 proceed young individuals, at first provided with only six legs, 

 until the period when, shedding their- skins, two more appear, 

 which were in progress of developement under this cutaneous 

 slough. 



If Mr. Cross believes that he has really formed an animal 

 of such elevated organization as the Acarus in question, mere- 

 ly by employing simple material elements, such as might se- 

 parate themselves from the surface of a piece of lava, kept in 

 a humid state by silicate of potash spread over it, saturated 

 with an excess of muriatic acid, and incessantly electrified ; 

 a belief, in which we know, on good authority, that the new 

 creator is daily fortifying himself, we will venture to remark, 

 that Mr. Cross does not appear to have sufficiently studied 

 the organization and comparative physiology of living crea- 

 tures ; without which knowledge, a naturalist, even though 

 very skilful, may strangely deceive himself, by imagining him- 

 self to be more powerful than he really is. 



It may readily be conceived, that by the aid of the elemen- 

 tary materials diffused through space, we may obtain either 

 amorphous conglomerations, or conglomerations which are 

 regular and crystalline ; but from these inorganic formations 

 to the creation of the simplest organized being, there appears 

 to us to be an immense distance. 



Before we dream of creating animals so complex as the 

 Acarus, let us only try to fabricate or to obtain the globules 

 of the Protosphceriat, and the filaments of the Protonem<B,f 



* The contraction of the animal, so long steeped in alcohol, prevented 

 us from seeing the eyes and pulmonary lohes distinctly. 



f Protospheeria simplex, Turp. Protonema simplex, Turp. Diet, des Sci- 

 ences Naturelles ; Atlas Botanique, tome ii. pp. 1 and 2. We have, at the 

 present moment, in a living state, a considerable number of filamentous 

 Protonemce, which vegetate indiscriminately with Hcematococcus, and Hete- 

 rocarpella geminata. 



We should have great pleasure in shewing them, under the microscope, 

 to any one desirous of seeing one of the simplest creations of the organic 



l 3 



